the offspring

Playlist #219

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Happy Monday, folks! The ridiculously high temperatures outside persist, but so do I! I kinda have to, since I don’t think I’m allowed to die anytime in the next thirty or so years. Anyway, here’s a playlist.

  1. Rise Against, “Give It All”: How would I describe this one? Emo? Pop-punk? Alternative? I dunno. It’s just a good song, man. We don’t always have to fit everything into these tiny prescriptive boxes.
  2. 10,000 Maniacs, “Trouble Me”: I go through phases where I want my music to sound like someone else’s. Right now, I want my music to sound like 10,000 Maniacs. There are definitely worse sounds.
  3. Noah Kahan & Hozier, “Northern Attitude”: We get it, things in the northern part of the US are darker and colder and sadder and all that. Just move to Phoenix and get on with things, guys.
  4. Mark Knopfler, “Prairie Wedding”: I love the guitar line in this song, and it’s just such a simple, beautiful song about the power of Mark Knopfler’s letter-writing skills. How else did he convince a woman to move to the barren west and marry him?
  5. Gorillaz, “Some Kind of Nature (Featuring Lou Reed)”: Gotta love a song that uses Lou Reed’s raspy talking as a selling point.
  6. The Gaslight Anthem, “Biloxi Parish”: There’s something nostalgic and sad underlying this song, which is something you could say about a great number of the Gaslight Anthem’s songs.
  7. HAIM, “Now It’s Time”: It uses U2’s “Numb” as a basis, but goes in a totally different direction. Pretty neat.
  8. Murder By Death, “Believe”: Great band, weird name. Not a death metal band, as you may be thinking. Folky alternative.
  9. The Offspring, “Self Esteem”: The sneering “na-na”s in this song are just great.
  10. Enya, “Orinoco Flow”: Apparently she came up with this song after her A&R guy said, “I don’t hear a single.” Enya said, “Oh yeah? Bet,” and came back a couple weeks later with this song. She is now living the dream, only recording when she feels like it, rarely touring, and just hanging out in her freakin’ castle with her cats. We should all be so lucky.

Playlist #182

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Happy Monday, folks. We begin this week as we have so many others, with a playlist of tracks chosen by yours truly. This week, those songs are:

  1. Fleetwood Mac, “Silver Springs (Live)”: The one from The Dance, the 1997 live album, where Stevie Nicks gives such a performance directly at Lindsey Buckingham that I’m surprised he didn’t just sink through the floor and into oblivion. I’ve been obsessed with this song for the past week, and it doesn’t show any signs of letting me go anytime soon.
  2. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Straight Into Darkness”: They just released a deluxe version of this 1982 album, complete with a bonus disk of outtakes and rarities. Good stuff. Now gimme one for Damn the Torpedoes!
  3. Cunningham Bird, “Don’t Let Me Down Again”: So Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham did a track-for-track remake of Buckingham Nicks. It still sounds very Andrew Bird-y, so lots of beautiful violin and virtuoso whistling.
  4. Live, “Pain Lies on the Riverside”: Did you know they wrote and recorded and performed songs other than “Lightning Crashes”? Well, they did! And a lot of them are a damn-sight better than that song.
  5. Van Morrison, “Everyone”: My brother called me up Friday and asked me, “What Van Morrison song has a lot of flutes and sounds like it’s straight out of the Middle Ages? And there’s something about mulberry bushes in there, too, I think?” He meant “Everyone,” which, while it does indeed feature flutes in a rather prominent role, does not ever mention mulberry bushes.
  6. The Offspring, “Staring at the Sun”: Sometimes, you just wanna rock out to a song that aint’ that deep. The Offspring are there for you.
  7. Michigander, “Better (Acoustic)”: Is this better than the electric version? I’m not convinced.
  8. Melissa Ethridge, “Come to my Window”: Man, when is Lilith Fair gonna get revived?
  9. Josh Ritter, “The Curse”: The best song about a mummy accidentally cursing the woman he loves who found him and slowly sucking all of the life out of her until she’s just a desiccated husk of a person like he was when she first found him that I have ever heard. It is, admittedly, a rather niche genre of song.
  10. John Mellencamp, “No One Cares About Me”: Poor John Mellencamp. It sure ain’t his mid-80s heyday anymore, which is too bad, since he’s become a much more interesting songwriter since then and mellowed out in a number of ways. Not in his voice, mind you, which sounds like he gargles glass, sand, whiskey, and an ashtray before every vocal take.

Playlist #172

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Happy Monday! We’re back in the school this morning, doing teacher in-service this week and we’ll have students next Monday. This will be my twentieth year of teaching. No, I’m not sure how I’ve been in it this long. Here’s some music.

  1. Jay-Z, “Public Service Announcement”: Didn’t expect me to put a Jay-Z song on here, did you? Hmm? Well, I did, so there! The fact that it features heavily in a commercial I’ve seen a few dozen times in the past two weeks has very little to do with it, honest.
  2. Langhorne Slim, “House of My Soul (You Light the Rooms)”: It’s just a damn fun sing-along song, y’know?
  3. Spoon, “New York Kiss”: They just released a deluxe version of this album with lots of demos, so you know I’m down for that.
  4. Paul McCartney/Wings, “Junior’s Farm”: From the One Hand Clapping collection that was recently released. Pretty good.
  5. Hank Williams, “Move It On Over”: I first heard this song back in the ’80s with the George Thorogood cover. This version is…much better.
  6. The Offspring, “Self Esteem”: La la, la la la, la la, la la.
  7. Old Crow Medicine Show, “Alabama High Test”: I could use a little of this this morning, whether it’s alcohol or meth. Either way, it’d make the faculty meetings more fun.
  8. Old 97s, “Streets of Where I’m From”: “I’ve been down, I’ve been down too far to care/I keep getting in my car, but I’m not going anywhere” is a great bit, and it does the thing where they say the name of the album in the song.
  9. Owen Danoff, “Never Been Kissed”: I just threw this one in here because I needed ten songs, not nine. It’s good, I just don’t have anything to say about it.
  10. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, “Shake Your Money Maker”: I need some Chicago blues today. We all do, I think. So here’s some.

Playlist #109

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It’s a rather gloomy Tuesday here in Northern Virginia, or maybe that’s just my interpretation of things. I’ll admit I’m currently looking at the world through shit-colored glasses, but that has less to do with the weather than it does some family stuff that’s going on. That being said, I’m headed to Oklahoma this afternoon, and it’s not a fun or pleasant trip that I’m embarking on.

  1. boygenius, “True Blue”: “When you don’t know who you are/You fuck around and find out,” is one of my favorite couplets this year.
  2. Adeem the Artist, “ICU”: Another in a string of thoughtful, heartfelt country songs from Adeem the Artist. I love their work. Songs like this always come around right when I need them.
  3. Bjork, “Army of Me”: “And if you complain once more/You’ll meet an army of me” sounds no less menacing given Bjork’s adorable accent. She really sounds like she could fuck you up if she wanted to.
  4. The Offspring, “Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)”: Yeah, it’s a little left-field, given the general tenor and tone of the songs on this playlist so far, but I like to change things up from time to time.
  5. Peter Gabriel, “Love To Be Loved”: Whenever there’s a rough situation, I turn to Peter Gabriel, not so much because he speaks to the human condition (thought he does), but because he speaks so elliptically about things that are universal and deeply, deeply personal.
  6. Ray LaMontagne, “Trouble”: I dig this guy’s stuff, though I think I dug it more before I found out what a tremendous asshole he apparently is. How are all the sensitive singer-songwriter types just absolute jerks?
  7. Steve Earle, “Hard-Core Troubadour”: It’d be hard to imagine 2023 Steve Earle, with his almost-bald head and the long, long fringe of hair that hangs around that shiny peak, being considered a sex symbol and an iconoclastic rebel, but 1996 Steve Earle could get it.
  8. Taylor Swift, “Style”: She’s sold more records than I’ve had hot lunches. She could release an album that’s just her making fart noises with her armpits and it’d probably go platinum at least. The woman knows what she’s about.
  9. Toad the Wet Sprocket, “Last To Fall”: Latter-day Toad is kinda hit-and-miss, I think, but when it hits, it hits good and hard.
  10. Tom Waits, “Ice Cream Man”: With summer just around the corner, the ice cream guy has started coming around again. We’ve heard his truck playing “Turkey in the Hay” two or three times just over this past weekend. So I asked if our ice cream man was maybe Tom Waits, and my sister-in-law just gave me a weird look. She does that a lot.

Playlist #90

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Happy Monday, folks! As per usual, here’s a new playlist for your listening pleasure.

  1. Harry Styles, “Two Ghosts”: I think I might actually like Harry Styles? Is there a doctor I should see about this?
  2. Spoon, “I Can’t Give Everything Away”: The elusive piano-led Spoon song. It’s more downbeat than a lot of their stuff, but I like it.
  3. Jay Farrar, “Feel Free”: I’ve probably mentioned this before, but for the longest time I thought NPR stood for “Non-Profit Radio.” It does not.
  4. Louis Armstrong, “Mack The Knife”: As I said on Twitter the other day, there is no more baller moment in music than when Louis tosses it to himself for the trumpet solo at the end.
  5. Better Than Ezra, “At The Stars”: Always kinda feel like Better Than Ezra should’ve been bigger than they were, even though they’re really just a solid alternative band.
  6. Calexico, “Cumbia De Donde”: I really dig the way this band combines traditional Hispanic music with indie rock. It works really well.
  7. Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Someday Never Comes”: Literally the only good song on Mardi Gras. But damn, what a song.
  8. Supertramp, “Goodbye Stranger”: Sorry, lady, I can’t be tied down. Gotta move on to the next chick. Real classy, guys.
  9. Santana, “The Game Of Love (Featuring Michelle Branch)”: Fun fact: the name “Branch” in Portuguese is “Branco,” so my wife’s name came up a lot in the Portuguese music press when this song came out. Strange but true.
  10. The Offspring, “The Kids Aren’t Alright”: 90s kids remember when these dudes were all the rage. I think the lead singer has a PhD? It’s weird.

Playlist #33: Meredith’s Birthday Playlist

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It’s my sister-in-law’s birthday this Thursday, so this week’s playlist is a Meredith playlist!

  1. Cher, “If I Could Turn Back Time”: I’ve yet to meet a Branco who doesn’t love this song.
  2. Mumford & Sons, “Little Lion Man”: Does it ever bother anyone else that his guitar strumming doesn’t seem to be in time with the rest of the song? ‘Cause it bothers me to no end.
  3. Glen Campbell, “MacArthur Park”: Have I featured this song on another playlist? I don’t recall. It’s a bizarre song, though, and I kind of love it. So does Meredith.
  4. Men At Work, “Who Can It Be Now?”: When I asked Meredith what she wanted for her personal ringtone on my phone, this was the song she picked. It’s a good ‘un.
  5. The Offspring, “Staring at the Sun”: Who doesn’t love rock’n’roll singers who also have PhDs?
  6. Muse, “Starlight”: I’ve never really listened to Muse much. I always kinda thought they were a bargain-bin Radiohead. I was wrong. They’re pretty catchy.
  7. Coldplay, “In My Place”: Re-listening to this song inspired me to go back and listen to the whole album again. It’s still pretty damn good.
  8. Cake, “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”: Who doesn’t want a girl with smooth liquidation?
  9. Green Day, “King For A Day”: An uptempo song about being a crossdresser that doesn’t get all weird and transphobic about it.
  10. Linkin Park, “One Step Closer”: I’m about to break.

Playlists #15 and #16

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Did you think I’d forgotten? That I had decided to stop posting weekly playlists? No! I’ve just been visiting family in Oklahoma, and not everyone has reliable wi-fi. Anyway, here’s last week’s and this week’s lists. *EDIT* Now with links to the playlists on Spotify!

Playlist #15

  1. Jelly Roll Morton, “Black Bottom Stomp”: There are legends (likely started by Jelly Roll himself) that he created jazz and that this is the first recorded jazz song. I’m not real sure on all that, but it is a good song.
  2. The Hotdamns, “Gina Lynn”: Our friend Danielle was in this band back in the day, and they’re really good. Y’all should check out their two releases available on iTunes.
  3. The High Kings, “Galway Girl”: I think I have this song because an after-school jam group I was playing with was doing it. It’s Irish and fun, as those things tend to be.
  4. Healthy White Baby, “Strong Reactor”: Great band, terrible name. Part of my web of Wilco-related groups (the bassist, Laurie Stirratt, is sibling to Wilco’s bassist John Stirratt). Ask me and I’ll gladly tell you. of how almost a dozen bands are all connected via the band Wilco.
  5. Faces, “Three Button Hand Me Down”: A fun story song about the suit that the orphan kid got when he left the orphanage and how it’s served him well all these years.
  6. Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, “Good Light”: A rootsy tune by a dude with an amazing beard.
  7. Dire Straits, “The Man’s Too Strong”: Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the Dire Straits album cuts are a little weak sometimes. For every “Sultans of Swing,” there’s a “Les Boys.” But this one slaps, folks.
  8. Spoon, “Do You”: I could just listen to the album this song is off of, They Want My Soul, over and over again, and frequently have.
  9. Monsters of Folk, “Say Please”: A collaboration between the likes of Connor Oberst, My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis should be pretty damn good, but the album this song is off of falls pretty short of the God-tier supergroups like the Traveling WIlburys. This song is alright, though
  10. The Offspring, “Self Esteem”: A couple weeks back, I was playing guitar at my dad’s house, and my step-brother’s son, Bryson, apparently really like this song by the Offspring. It’s just three chords, so it was easy to learn. Hard to sing, though.

Playlist #16

  1. Van Morrison, “The Great Deception”: I’ve been borrowing my father’s Mustang Mach 1 while I’ve been visiting (a very fun car to drive, let me tell you), and Van’s Hard Nose the Highway was one of the few CDs I borrowed from him to listen to in the car. I’ve heard “The Great Deception” about a dozen times in the past two weeks, and I’m still not tired of it.
  2. Lizzo & Cardi B, “Rumors”: It slaps. Lizzo drops what the young folks might refer to as knowledge on ya, and it’s just a really well-done pop/rap song.
  3. Shania Twain, “That Don’t Impress Me Much”: Is it possible to not sing along with this song when it comes on? I posit that it is, in fact, impossible not to sing along.
  4. Neil Young, “Harvest”: My brother played the dance remix version of this song for me last night. I now question everything I ever thought I understood about music.
  5. Placebo, “You Don’t Care About Us”: The ’90s were a wild time, weren’t they? Yes, yes they were.
  6. Uncle Tupelo, “Whiskey Bottle”: “Whiskey bottle over Jesus/Not forever, but just for now.” Chills, man.
  7. Zoe Keating, “Optimist”: I don’t usually listen to strictly instrumental music. I make an exception for Zoe Keating, a cellist who can make that thing sit up and beg if you want her to.
  8. The Killers, “Somebody Told Me”: Clyde maintains this is the best band (and their best album) of the 21st century. He might be right.
  9. Linda Ronstadt, “When Will I Be Loved?” I heard my uncle play this particular song so many times back in college and graduate school when he was playing in a country cover band. It is not recommended that you try to two-step to this one.
  10. Old Crow Medicine Show, “Wagon Wheel”: The bane of open mics across the southwest, but still a fun and easy song to rock out to.